Weight training machines are highly popular with people interested in exercising to maintain their health and appearance. Conventional weight training machines typically include a weight stack that provides a variable load, and one or more exercise stations coupled to the weight stack that enable a person to exercise different portions of their body. One of the exercise stations is typically a press station that includes a press arm. At the press station, a user may apply force to the press arm to perform a variety of different exercises.
For example, FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an exercise machine 100 that includes a press station 102 in accordance with the prior art. The exercise machine 100 includes a press station 102 having a press arm 106 pivotally coupled to a first upright member 108 of a support frame 109. The press arm 106 includes a laterally-extending member 110 that is operatively coupled by a cable-and-pulley assembly (not shown) to a weight stack 105 partially enclosed within a shroud 112. The exercise machine 100 further includes a high pull station 114 and a butterfly station 116 that are also operatively coupled to the weight stack 105 by the cable-and-pulley assembly. Exercise machines of the type shown in FIG. 1 are described more fully, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,601 issued to Ish, which patent is incorporated herein by reference.
The press station 102 of the exercise machine 100 of FIG. 1 has many components that are associated with the operability and adjustability of the press arm 106. For example, FIGS. 2 through 4 provide various elevational views of the press station 102 of FIG. 1. As best shown in FIG. 2, the press arm 106 is fixed to a bracket 25 extending laterally from a rigid connection to the laterally-extending member 110. The member 110 has a right stub shaft 26a journaled in the first upright member 108 and a left stub shaft 26b that may be journaled into a second upright member 118 (FIG. 1). An adjustment assembly 30 is coupled to the laterally-extending member 110 that includes a swing arm 32 and a curved adjustment plate 33 which are journaled on the left stub shaft 26b at opposite sides of the second upright member 118, and are cross-connected by a cross-member 34 which is spaced from the second upright member 118. A lever arm 36 projects from the center of the cross-member 34, and the adjustment plate 33, and has an elongated hub 33d journaled on the stub shaft 26b. 
As shown in FIG. 3, a cam strip 35 is shaped to receive a cable 52 and is mounted on the free end of the lever arm 36. A stop rod 37 is fixed to the free end of the lever arm 36 and positioned to the left of the cam strip 35. The stop rod 37 extends rearwardly from the lever arm 36 toward the second upright member 118 and preferably has a bumper on its rear end for engagement with the second upright member 118 as a stop.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the adjustment plate 33 has an arcuate forward edge containing a series of teeth 33a and having stop ears 33b, 33c at its opposite ends. Complementing the adjustment plate is a swing plate 38 extending along side the adjustment plate laterally from a weld connection to the left end of the extension tube 26. At its outer end, the swing plate 38 is formed with a retaining hook 38a doubling back around the toothed edge portion of the adjustment plate. This hooked portion 38a has a pair of aligned radially-extending slots 39 receiving a latching finger 40 extending through the slots integrally from the outer end of a link 41 of round bar stock having its inner end bent to provide an integral pin 42 passing through a hole in a crank 43. The crank 43 projects through a side opening in the laterally-extending member 110 from a rocker shaft 44 extending along the inside of the laterally-extending member 110. The rocker shaft 44 has its ends passing through openings in a pair of inserts 46 which are welded to the inner ends of the stub shafts 26a, 26b and to the laterally-extending member 110.
Adjacent its right end the rocker shaft 44 has a second crank 46 extending through a respective side opening in the laterally-extending member 110 to pivotally connect via an intermediate link 48 with a generally U-shaped handle 50. The handle 50 is swing-mounted for up and down swinging movement by right and left trunnion portions 50a-50b passing through holes in laterally spaced side walls of the bracket 25. The handle continues rearwardly beyond the trunnion 50b as a lever 51. The lever 51 and the crank 56 have holes therethrough receiving bent end portions 48a, 48b on the link 48. A tension spring 49 is anchored at one end on an ear mounted on the bracket 25 and has its other end hooked over the link 48 adjacent the outer end portion 48a of the link so as to bias the handle 50 downwardly toward the bracket 25.
In operation, manually swinging the handle 50 upwardly causes the lever 51 to swing downwardly in opposition to the spring 49 and thereby pull on the link 48 such that the crank 46 responsively is swung downwardly. The resulting turning of the rocker shaft 44 in the clockwise direction when viewed from the right end, swings the crank 43 at the left end of the rocker shaft downwardly, and this motion pushes on the link 41 such that the latching finger 40 is moved outwardly to the outer end of the slots 39. In this outer position the latching finger 40 is radially outward of the teeth in the adjustment plate 33. The press arm unit 24 is then free to be swung upwardly or downwardly to the desired starting position resulting in swinging of the swing plate 38 and latching finger 40 relative to the adjustment plate 33. The stop ears 33b, 33c limit movement of the press arm 106 during adjustment of its starting position. The adjustment handle 50 is then released causing the latching finger 40 to retract into one of the slots 39 and mesh between the adjacent teeth 33a on the adjustment plate 33, thereby coupling the swing plate 38 and adjustment plate 33 together.
From the foregoing it is seen that upward swinging of the press arm 106 from the selected starting position in performing a press exercise results in forward and upward swinging of the cam strip 35 by connection of the press arm unit therewith via the laterally-extending member 110, swing plate 38, latching finger 40, adjustment plate 33, and lever arm 32. As shown in FIG. 3, such movement of the cam strip 35a, results in tensioning of a press cable 52 positioned in a keyhole slot at the outer end of a brace 35a for the cam strip 35a and having a ball stop 53 engaging the brace 35a. The press cable 52 is part of the cable-and-pulley assembly coupled to the weight stack 105. Hence, upward swinging of the press arm 106 is resisted by the selected load of weight plates in the weight stack 105.
Although desirable results have been achieved using prior art exercise machines of the type shown in FIGS. 1-4, there may be room for improvement. For example, in the above-described apparatus, the relatively large number of components in the press station 102 increases the cost of manufacture and assembly, and therefore the overall cost of the exercise machine. The number of components may also increase the maintenance associated with the exercise machine 100. Thus, novel apparatus and methods that mitigate these characteristics of prior art exercise machines would be useful.